Chicken and Gnocchi Soup

This soup is so tasty and is wonderful with just a salad on the side. We go to the Olive Garden Restaurant for lunch sometime and they always serve this soup. We liked it so much that I came home and duplicated the recipe. It has chicken and Gnocchi potatoes. I had never cooked with Gnocchi potatoes before but they are so delicious. They are like little small dumplings

How to Make Chicken and Gnocchi Soup

Sauté the onion, celery, and garlic in the butter and olive oil, over medium heat when the onion becomes translucent, add the flour, and make a roux, let the butter and flour mixture cook for about a minute before adding 1 quart of half and half. Cook gnocchi according to package directions.

Into the roux add in the carrots and chicken. Once the mixture becomes thick add the chicken broth. Once the mixture thickens again, add the cooked gnocchi, spinach, and seasonings, simmer until soup is heated through.

Once in the serving bowl spinkle parmesan cheese on top.

Comments about this recipe:
You can add more chicken if you like. While you could use left over cooked chicken breasts, I really think using the rotisserie chicken that are found in many grocery stores (or Costco) is the best way to get the optimal flavor of this soup.

Note: I made this the other day and instead of using gnocchi I used the dumplings like you put in chicken and dumplings. You can buy them in your grocery frozen section. They are square small dumplings.